Halogate
by Chris7221
Summary: AU/Crossover; The Covenant, a religious alliance, has declared war on humanity. Among their defenses is the recently-formed SGC, a branch of the military that uses a device called a Stargate which allows instant interplanetary travel.
1. Welcome To The SGC

_Update: I've added a timeline and made some layout changes to make it easier to read._

All right, I've been thinking about this for a while now. It's not the epic Star Trek/Stargate crossover fic that I've been meaning to do for half a year, but it's probably my most ambitious fic yet. I'm not a huge Halo fan, though I've finished Halo 1 and am almost finished Halo 2. But I am a big Stargate fan, and I've been disappointed at the lack of crossover fics, especially complete ones.

AU/Crossover; In the future, the Covenant, a religious alliance of several races has declared war on humanity. Among their defenses is the recently-formed SGC, a branch of the military that uses a device called a Stargate, which allows instant travel between planets.

* * *

**Timeline**

~50000000 BCE - Ancients arrive in Milky Way

50000000 BCE-10000000 BCE - The Ancient empire expands across the Milky way. The Stargate network is built.

~10000000 BCE - Flood begin infesting the galaxy and the Halos are built by the Ancients as a backup plan.

~5000000 BCE - In desperation, the last Ancients leave the Milky Way and fire the Halo rings.

~4900000 BCE - Life begins reappearing in the Milky Way. It is believed but not confirmed the Ancients are responsible.

~16000 BCE - Ra becomes the dominant System Lord among the Goa'uld, a race of human-infesting parasites who pose as gods.

14000 BCE - Goa'uld begin expanding into the galaxy.

9000 BCE - Earth is completely enslaved by Ra.

8200 BCE - Dissent begins to grow between two factions of San 'Shyuum ("Prophets") regarding the treatment of Forerunner (Ancient) artifacts.

8100 BCE - San 'Shyuum civil war ends with the destruction of the homeworld. The Reformists escape on the incomplete High Charity- a city-ship.

7980 BCE - Sangheili ("Elites") discovered by the San 'Shyuum. The Sangheili and the Reformists disagree on the treatment of Forerunner artifacts and a war erupts.

7910 BCE - The Sangheili merge to form the Covenant after a long and bloody struggle.

7900 BCE-7300 BCE - Height of the Covenant empire. The Lekgolo ("Hunters") and Unggoy ("Grunts") join the Covenant during this period.

7289 BCE - First contact between the Covenant and the Goa'uld is made. It ends in disaster for both sides.

7200 BCE-6500 BCE - Goa'uld/Covenant war. The Covenant have a technological advantage in some areas, but are lacking in others, most notably hyperdrives. The Goa'uld lose ground for hundreds of years, using the Stargates and superior drive systems to their advantage. However, their empire is largely destroyed by 7000 BCE. Most System Lords are dead by 6500 BCE, the "official" end of the war. However, pockets of Goa'uld would remain for centuries.. Most human worlds are kept enslaved by their new Covenant masters.

3000 BCE - The humans rebel and Ra abandons Earth. Ra takes the Stargate with him

289 CE - Anubis, the last of the Goa'uld, is killed.

2032 - Earth's other Stargate is discovered below Antarctica. Its purpose is unknown at this time.

2080 - Humans settle on Luna, Mars, and the Jovian moons.

2160 - Armed conflict breaks out between various political factions on Earth and her colonies. The Stargate was lost some time during the conflict.

2170 - Fighting officially ends, with a United Earth Government and the UNSC formed as a result. Rebellions would occur sporadically for the next hundred or so years.

2291 - Partially based on Ancient and Goa'uld artifacts left on Earth, the first Earth-built hyperdrive is built and tested. Although the first test resulted in the tragic loss of the prototype ship and her crew, later tests were more successful.

2298 - Earth's first true interstellar spacecraft, the _Da Vinci_, is built.

2310 - Humanity begins to spread across the galaxy, colonizing nearby planets. At this time, hyperdrives are prohibitively expensive, slow, and prone to exploding.

2310-2525 - Humanity expands rapidly, inhabiting hundreds of worlds by 2500. Technological advancements result in faster and more powerful ships, increased lifespans, and a massive increase in industrial capacity. However, only a tiny portion of the galaxy is explored.

2461-2467 - The Inner Colony War almost results in the destruction of Earth. Though a swift end is put to it, it is only a taste of what is to come.

2462 - The Unggoy Rebellion occurs. An Arbiter is sent in to quell it, doing so successfully. This marks the beginning of the Age of Doubt on the Covenant calendar.

2490 - Insurrectionist forces begin rising up. The conflict between the UNSC and Insurrectionists will go on until first contact with the Covenant.

2491-2506 - ORION/Spartan 1 program is reactivated. Though successful, it was abandoned in 2506, with key personnel reassigned.

2517 - SPARTAN-II program begins, with 75 specially selected children removed from various worlds. Just under 40 make it through augmentation and training.

2525 - First contact is made with the Covenant on Harvest. Misinterpreting a religious message, they glass the entire planet. This even marks the beginning of the Age of Reclaimation. The Insurrection ends as humanity is united against the Covenant. Human-Covenant war begins.

2541 - Stargate is rediscovered and SGC is formed. Though initially regarded as little more than a top-secret joke, it was successful at retrieving valuable technology and carrying out special operations deep behind enemy lines.

2552 - Current Year. The UNSC fortress world of Reach is destroyed by the Covenant and the Halo rings are discovered.

* * *

"Over the last several years, we've made several technological advances thanks to the SGC," Dr. Rodney McKay bragged to the assembly of officers and representatives from military-industrial contractors. The presentation on the history of the SGC had taken longer than he thought it would, and he was anxious to pass these people onto Sam and Daniel. They were probably wondering why he took so long already. "We've also had several military victories, though that's not really in my purview."

"Such as?" asked an army officer.

"Well, um, that's not really part of my job," McKay dodged, "Anyway, we've made many technological advancements, both of military and civilian uses. One of the most useful is the naquadah generator. It's based on a super-heavy element and can produce power far more efficiently than fusion or boosted fusion."

"Dr. McKay, if I read the mission reports correctly, we didn't invent that." stated Admiral James Pickett.

"Well, that is true, sort of. We were assisted by refugees from a world destroyed by the Covenant. But we were able to increase efficiency significantly.

"We've also developed better weapons, armor and shields. I guess I'll uh, turn you over to Major Carter and Dr. Jackson now. Thank you." Dr. McKay led the procession out and than disappeared.

Admiral Pickett almost got the two mixed up. Had they not been wearing nametags, he would have guessed the male one was Carter and the female one was Jackson. Both had similar, yet different, pasts. "What do you do here, Dr. Jackson? I thought you were a linguist and archaeologist."

"Well, yes, I am. We tend to run into a lot of old artifacts here."

"Care to explain, Doctor?" asked one of the representatives.

"Okay, but it might take a while. As you know, a long-extinct race used to occupy the galaxy. The Covenant call them the Forerunners and revere them. Here we simply call them the Ancients. They created the Halo rings, as well as the Stargates. Sometimes we find things that they left behind. Most of them are useless trinkets. But some are valuable, even to the military. We don't know what wiped out the Ancients. It wasn't the Flood or Covenant."

"There was also a newer empire that spanned the galaxy. Well, maybe more of a coalition of so-called 'System Lords'. They called themselves the Goa'uld. Anyway, they took humans as slaves and spread them around the galaxy. The Goa'uld were completely destroyed by the Covenant after centuries, maybe even millenia, of war.

"The effect on us? Well, we keep finding humans in the far reaches of the galaxy. Some are primitive or medieval. Some are industrial, and most are used as slaves by the Covenant."

Carter took over at this point, "When we can, we try to free the humans. We try to launch backdoor attacks against the Covenant through the gate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. However, I'd say the SGC is safer than frontline combat."

"Dr. Jackson, I've read your file. You never finished the SPARTAN training, why was that?" Pickett stated. He already knew the answer.

"Well, I was rejected. Had the wrong psychological profile, they said. Apparently that's the only thing they forgot to consider. I wasn't the only one they had to reject."

"Can we move on, please? Thank you." interjected Carter, "Based on reverse-engineered alien technology, the SGC has developed several types of military equipment. Some of these have begun to enter frontline service. The SGC itself uses in-house developed armor, featuring energy-based shielding, advanced tactical communications, and materials that would have taken years to develop otherwise. From Covenant and other technology we have developed several new weapons better able to take on the Covenant threat."

"Like what?" asked Pickett, demeaningly.

The Major reacted slightly, just enough to be noticable. "Well, the M-699 directed energy weapon is beginning to enter service. It is capable of penetrating most Covenant shielding in a single shot. However, it is not without disadvantages. The M-699 is somewhat bulky and heavy.

"We're going to have to skip the weapons demonstrations, and I apologize for that. However, we are running out of time." She pushed a button on the wall intercom. "Daedalus, beam us up." In a flash of light, the party disappeared.

And reappeared on the bridge of the Daedalus. Rodney McKay and Colonel Steven Caldwell were there, as were various crewpersons.

"The Daedalus is without a doubt the most advanced ship in the UNSC inventory," said Rodney McKay, almost bragging.

"And the most expensive," stated Pickett, "For the price of this ship, we could have had a real cruiser. The Daedalus is barely a frigate."

"Let me assure you, the Daedalus is no ordinary frigate," responded McKay. "It has shields that can withstand weapons fire that would destroy any other ship. The beaming system was reverse-engineered from technology from an extinct race and you can probably imagine how useful that is. The Daedalus is also the fastest ship in the fleet. The naquadah based power core is several times more powerful for a given size than a standard boosted-fusion unit and can sustain higher power levels longer."

"What about weapons?" one of the group asked, genuinely curious.

Carter answered this question. "There are no MAC guns on this ship. Well, not big ones anyway. We've scaled down the technology into small turrets, mostly for point-defence. In addition to anti-fighter missiles, the Daedalus can carry the new Hades missiles. They are the latest and greatest in missile weaponry. Each missile has a small hyperdrive for crossing long distances quickly as well as penetrating shields. Even if a missile fails to penetrate, the adjustable-yield naquadah warhead will probably smash through it anyway."

"I've heard they tried to make this ship a carrier too. Did you SGC people really try to do something that insane?" asked the Admiral, somewhat menacingly.

"Those rumours aren't completely unfounded." It was Caldwell this time. "By no means is the Daedalus a carrier, but it does carry eight Dagger light fighters, two Longsword strike/interceptor craft, and two Pelicans, as well as provisions for land vehicles and a Stargate."

"And what about the Prometheus fiasco? If I remember correctly, it had to be towed back to Earth after the reactor exploded. Sometimes I think the only reason this program still exists is because of Major Carter's father," Pickett accused. Carter flushed slightly, trying very hard to keep her rage under control. One nice thing about being a SPARTAN is being able to kill almost anyone unarmed, but even thinking about doing that to a superior officer would get her court-martialed.

"The reason SGC is still around, Admiral, is because it's produced more results that the Navy," retorted Major General Jack O'Neill, head of the SGC, as he entered the bridge. Which wasn't strictly true, but it was a good comeback.

"General, I respectfully disagree. The navy has kept the Covenant away from Earth and won pivotal battles. The SGC has accomplished nothing of that magnitude. You've only been a thorn in the Covenant's side."

General O'Neill wasn't in the mood to argue. "Admiral, I respectfully request that you shove it. Colonel Caldwell, beam this man back down."

"But-"

"Yes sir."

Carter almost smiled. The General always did have a way with words.

* * *

Unlike previous fics of mine, I've actually planned out this story to some degree. So hopefully, it shouldn't go off in some random direction or have a rushed conclusion. New chapters should come fairly quickly. As always, please leave a review.


	2. Under Fire

In case you were wondering, this is between Halo and Halo 2; after the first Halo ring is discovered.

* * *

_September 21, 2552_

_P5X-775, 14:52 Lima_

Major Evan Lorne was in a sticky situation. The team holding the gate was under heavy fire, the Covenant were pounding on his doorstep, and Zelenka was frantically trying to extract data from the Covenant console. He squeezed off a three-round burst from his BR355 rifle, killing or at least severely wounding the Elite. The BR355 is the SGC version of the standard BR55 rifle, featuring a red dot sight instead of a scope, a somewhat shorter barrel, and true semi-burst-auto selective fire. It is also lighter and has only a 30-round magazine. Very little of this mattered to Lorne at the moment. He fired another burst, then ducked behind a crate to reload as a plasma shot grazed his shield.

"Done!" shouted Zelenka, packing away his tablet.

"Move! Get to the gate!" yelled Lorne. He wondered how important the data really was as he smashed his rifle into an injured Jackal. The air was practically filled with bullets and plasma fire now. One of his team fell, and Lorne dragged her back up and pulled her along, ignoring the needler fire peppering his shields. Those things were nasty. Sharp, flesh seeking exploding crystals. She was heavy, Lorne noted. _She's the FNG. How could I just have noticed that?_ There was a faint hum as the FNG's shields went back up. She was firing back, but clearly hurt badly. The bolt of the rifle locked open, the magazine empty. Unable to reload with one free hand, Major Lorne dropped the gun and picked up a plasma rifle.

Gunnery Sergeant Williams had problems of her own. What seemed like a thousand Grunts, Jackals, and Elites seemed to be storming the gate. She had an SGC-issue M307 SMG, which was empty. It was fairly useless anyway. More useful than the normal kind, at least, having a longer barrel and decent reflex sights, but it still fired the same unreliable ammunition at about the same speed. The SGC was phasing it out, but it was still the primary weapon for most troops. Williams also carried an M323 hopper-fed SAW, which was heavy and unreliable, but at least it could take down Covenant with some ease. Williams had emptied her SAW a minute ago. The Covenant just kept coming.

She needed a gun. There was a dead Sangheili by the DHD, which she had to get to somehow anyway. But with a constant stream of plasma weapons fire, it would be almost impossible to get there without being shot. _Well, time to do something crazy. I hope these shields work._

"Cover me!" she practically shouted over the radio, darting from behind cover and dashing toward the DHD. Predictably, plasma bolts and needler needles hit her from every direction. The sergeant cringed as her shields dropped under the constant enemy fire and needler crystals peppered her armor. An annoying alarm went off, telling her that her shields were down. Williams almost smiled. She could feel the impacts. Only adrenaline kept her going as she grabbed the Elite's rifle and sword and dived behind the DHD.

Open spaces are a curse and a blessing to any soldier. With the amount of Covenant swarming around, it was more of a curse for Major Lorne and his team. Worst of all, he couldn't move very fast with the FNG. "Leave... me," she groaned weakly. Lorne noticed she had dropped her pistol and was more limp than before.

"NO! We'll make it, just keep moving," Lorne's words fell upon deaf ears. The FNG had falled unconcious. He picked her limp body up and started carrying her, dropping his plasma rifle in the process. They were almost at the Stargate, which was good, because his shield was failing under the continuous streams of fire. He rougly placed her down where Williams had been taking cover under a minute before. "Dial the gate!" he yelled over the radio.

Sergeant Williams was having trouble breathing now. It felt as if she was lying face-down in a field composed entirely of nails._ Just a little bit longer,_ she told herself. Forcing back the pain for a moment, Williams leaned over the DHD, firing the plasma rifle randomly toward the Covenant aggressors, not knowing or caring if she got any hits. With her other hand, she dialed Earth on the DHD, collapsing behind the device immediately after finishing the sequence. She gasped for breath, hearing the gate activate, faint voices, weapons from both sides. The badly injured sergeant would vaguely remember being forcefully pulled along the ground.

_September 21, 2552_

_Earth SGC, 12:31 Lima_

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" yelled Walter from his customary position at the control console.

"Security teams to the gateroom. Close the iris," ordered General O'Neill. He was having a good day, but it seemed that was about to change.

"Receiving IDC. It's SG-4, Lorne's team, sir. Wait- I'm receiving a radio message."

"...under heavy fire...*rifle fire*have wounded...open...*explosion*MOVE..."

"Open the iris, but get ready to close it. All defence teams on standby. Close the blast door." O'Neill picked up a different handset. "Medical teams to the gateroom!"

On the other side of the blast door, security teams cocked their rifles and the mounted miniguns were spun up. Things were tense as the iris opened and Major Lorne's team poured through. One hapless Elite had managed to get through. He was literally cut in half, what passed for blood spraying all over the closing iris.

Before the iris had completely closed, Dr. Janet Frasier and her team of medics had arrived in the gateroom. Quickly she assesed the situation. Two of the team were badly wounded. One had severe plasma burns to one leg, the armor completely melted away. The other one didn't look as bad, but she had obviously taken a lot of hits. Both casualties were lifted carefully onto stretchers and carried away to the infirmary.

"Major Lorne, I want a full debriefing at oh-14-hundred hours. Get some food and check on Williams and Jenkins first."

_September 21, 2552_

_Earth SGC, 14:00 Lima_

General O'Neill hated most debriefings. Usually, it consisted of scientists babbling on and on about something that would benefit humanity somehow, with all the soldiers bobbing their heads and obviously not knowing what the hell it meant. Some of the debriefings, like the current one, were interesting.

Major Lorne and his team, minus Sergeant Williams and Private Jenkins, were in the room along with Dr. Frasier.

"First things first. How are Jenkins and Williams doing?" O'Neill asked. They were, after all, his people, and he was responsible for all of them.

"Well, Private Jenkins took a pretty bad hit to the lower leg, probably from a plasma pistol. It burned right through the armor. Lots of severe tissue and even bone damage. Five years ago, I would have had to amputate. With the advances we've made, I've managed to save her leg. It's still going to be a long and painful healing process, though.

"Williams' injuries were less severe than I was afraid. Plenty of minor burns to the body, nothing major. I think she passed out from shock more than anything. She may have had a minor concussion as well. Both of my patients will live, but Williams will be out of it for a few days to a week, Jenkins probably over a month."

"Thank you. Major Lorne, what the hell happened?"

"Well, sir, it started off as a routine recon. Standard Earth-like world, plenty of humans- former slaves of the Covenant. They showed us the old Covenant outpost. Zelenka thought he could get some useful data out of it.

"Either we picked a bad time to show up, or we activated something. Either way, before we knew it the Covenant were on top of us. Some of us protected Zelenka as he finished downloading his precious files, and some of us held the gate.

"Just after Zelenka finished, Jenkins went down. I carried her back to the gate. Williams dialed, and we went through as fast as we could. I guess she was hit too, because someone had to drag her back through the gate."

"Zelenka, I hope that data was important. You almost got one of my teams killed." O'Neill really hoped the data was important. He didn't want to strangle Zelenka. Well, maybe a little.

Dr. Radek Zelenka took a deep breath. "Actually, it may be even better than I have hoped. As you know, we've recovered various Covenant data modules, recorders, even downloaded data directly. Most of it is encrypted and useless to us.

"However, if I am right, part of what I recovered from the outpost is the key to decrypting the data. This could be immensely useful to us."

"How useful?" asked O'Neill. He was kind of curious now.

"Well, we don't know. Locked inside those databases could be something as useless as what they eat for breakfast-" it was a lame attempt at a joke- "or as useful as say, the gate address to their home planet or anywhere in between."

"All right, dismissed. I want Carter and McKay working on that. You too, Zelenka." _Sam and Rodney, maybe not such a good idea, _thought General O'Neill as he left the briefing room.

* * *

I think this chapter was better than the last. Anyone who got the Mass Effect reference, good job.

Background Notes:

-Daedalus belongs to the SGC because they developed the technology, paid for it, and crewed it.

-In fact all SGC-SPARTANS have full names and on average higher ranks. It was considered easier by the SGC to fake their identities than to hide them. To most people, Sam is just the brat daughter of a high-ranking general.

-The SGC is its own separate service, albeit a small one. Kind of a "combined forces" thing, but with a different specialty as well.

-Major Lorne is not a SPARTAN, it's just that the SGC has exploited alien technology and the best Earth technology. Meaning standard armor with shields and better protection, modified weapons, some more effective than others, and some neat gadgets too.

This story is actually really hard for me to write, as it's full of contradictory requirements. I have to stay consistent with SGC characters, yet work with a different universe. I have to be accurate to both canons and put in enough details to satisfy fans, but still explain enough to make it accessible to those who only play Halo, only watch Stargate, or neither. Nevertheless, this is still fun to write, more so than most of my half-hearted projects.


	3. Some Progress

I made some stylistic and layout changes to make things easier to read. I plan on keeping things like this for the rest of this fic.

* * *

_October 10, 2552  
__Earth SGC, 1500 Lima_

"So, is this big?" O'Neill asked the assembled science team. It had taken long enough, but Carter had finally called saying they'd finally made a breakthrough.

He was answered by Rodney McKay. "It's huge! You see, the Covenant code is not just for encryption but also compression. In addition, they have a bad habit of including critical data of potentially strategic importance in virtually every computer system they have. I guess they considered the convenience of having information at their fingertips important enough to risk the slim chance of it being deciphered and used by us. And by slim chance, I mean slim chance. We got incredibly lucky."

"What this means, sir," elaborated Carter, "is that we now have access to a significant portion of the knowledge of the Covenant. Not anything new like where there ships are, but everything from starship battle tactics to recharging plasma weaponry. Sir, this could turn the tide of the war. It'll take us some time to process and translate, though. Anything specific you want us to look for?"

"Yeah, how about the gate address to their homeworld? Good work, take a break and get back on it."

* * *

_October 13, 2552  
__Earth SGC, 1343 Lima_

There was a lot of information. Some of it very useful, some completely useless, and a lot in between. Carter rubbed her eyes. It was what- two in the afternoon? But she had been up for almost three days straight now. SPARTAN conditioning only went so far. And she wasn't even a real SPARTAN, not really. Someone had neglected to check who her father was, and one thing led to another, and it was a huge clusterfuck. But she had managed to finish the training, and was assigned to what was condered a joke at the time- the SGC. Which had probably saved her life. Carter found that extremely ironic at the moment. Must be fatigue.

Sam turned back to the computer screen. High Charity? Wasn't that some sort of city-ship? Their capital, actually. Yawning, Carter flagged the entry to be processed and decided to get lunch.

* * *

"Okay, Sergeant, I think we're ready," Dr. Bill Lee said to Siler, who was holding a plasma rifle. "You know how to plug it in, right?"

"Yup." Siler plugged the thick cables into the plasma rifle. It was awkward and strange looking, but amazingly the custom adapters actually worked.

"Powering up!" yelled the scientist. The rifle began to emit a high-pitched whining sound. No more than two seconds later, the vents on the rifle opened and discharged a sizeable quantity of plasma, some of it hitting Siler, who fell to the floor.

"Ahhhhhhh," he groaned. The plasma was hot. Really hot. Despite only being hit for less than a second, he could already feel the burning.

* * *

"Right, well, it had to be charged to do that, so maybe if we just reduce the power a little bit- Are you okay? Do you need a medic to come down here?"

"How are you doing, Jenkins?" Lorne said as he entered the infirmary with a tray of food. "I brought you lunch."

"Thanks, sir." She took a sandwich and wolfed it down hungrily. "Well, I wont be combat-ready for a few weeks, but at least I can move around a bit now. They took me off the pain medication yesterday. It hurts- but it's tolerable. Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Shoot."

"How did all these people end up at the SGC? They told me- well, they never said it, but they implied- that the SGC was a dumping ground for the worst of all the armed services. But when I actually came here, all the people are good, we have the best equipment, and even a nice facility. What gives, sir?"

"Well, you have General O'Neill to thank for most of that. Before he arrived, it was a mess. We _were_ the dumping ground and didn't have squat for equipment. You know Major Carter?"

"SPARTAN, right? Didn't know who her father was. He demanded answers, she had to beg both sides to finish the training, and they dumped her here."

"Did you know that when we first started out, we had SPARTANs but none of their special equipment?"

Jenkins was genuinely shocked. "SPARTANs, but no MJOLNIR armor?"

"You got it. That wasn't even the worst of it. The only weapons we got were rejects. SGC always was a separate branch, but we got less funding than most capital ships. At one point we had our scientists playing the stock market instead of doing actual work. A lot of people died, Jenkins. Some of them never were any good and never should have been here. Some just got unlucky. And some of them didn't have what they needed to get the job done."

"What happened, sir? What did General O'Neill do?"

"First, he fired half our personnel, getting rid of the really incompetent ones. He refused to accept just anyone. Instead, he took people who were rejected because of bad luck, a lack of respect for authority, or those that had just been screwed over. Those that were really good, but the system rejected. We focused more on valuable technology and resources that are worth money. That wasn't his biggest breakthrough, though.

"Somehow, he convinced Admiral Hood to back the SGC. No one knows how. I've asked him myself. Never answered the question. Ever."

"I have a more personal question, sir. How did you end up here?"

"I botched a job on one of the colonies. We were going to take down some Neo-Nazis, quietly and carefully. They were rising up. Well, I screwed up. Must have hit something, activated some sensor, maybe someone just had an itchy trigger finger. Next thing I knew, we were on the run. Barely escaped with my life. Some of my buddies didn't. It was a big embarrassment, so I got shoved here. How did you get here, private?"

"I don't know if I should be talking about it, sir."

"Come on, Jenkins. You're going to have to start trusting me sometime. What happens in the SGC stays in the SGC. Nobody believes anything that comes out of here anyway."

"I was actually a corporal then. Got demoted because of the incident. My commanding officer was a sexist bastard. Lieutenant Julio Dominique. He always made remarks that bordered on sexual misconduct. His gunny died, beam rifle blast to the head. The el-tee didn't like his replacement. He tried to rape her. Not smart. There was a fight between us and him. They didn't find his body for a month. They couldn't prove anything, so my sergeant got a dishonorable discharge and they demoted me and shoved me here."

"He had it coming, Jenkins. What's done is done. Just do your best, and you'll get your rank back. I promise you that."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

_Earth SGC, 1521 Lima_

No, that couldn't be right. But it made sense, didn't it? Of course the address to High Charity would be in all the databases. A plan was already beginning to form in her mind. She would need more intel, though. So much for getting some sleep.

_October 14, 2552_

_Earth SGC, 1027 Lima_

"Sir, I need to see you about something."

O'Neill sighed. "Carter, can it wait? I have a lot of paperwork to do."

"Right now, sir. It's of vital strategic importance."

"This better be vital!" O'Neill yelled as he stormed out of his office. Paperwork always put him in a bad mood.

* * *

_Earth SGC, 1030 Lima_

"You know how you asked about the gate address to their homeworld? I have what's basically the next best thing." Sam turned her laptop towards the general.

"They live in a giant mushroom?"

Carter couldn't help but smile. "No, sir, this is _High Charity_, their capital. It's a city-ship, their capital. We're still working out the details, but I know there gate is probably within the "Forerunner Dreadnought" at the heart of the city. They have an Ancient battleship in there, sir. I'm not sure what kind of shape it's in yet, but I think it's possible to at least-" Carter was interrupted by the phone ringing. She answered it. It was for O'Neill.

"This better be important, Walter."

"It is sir. A Covenant battlegroup is dropping out of hyperspace around Jupiter."

"What? I thought they weren't due to arrive for another week or so?"

Carter answered that question. "The sensor buoys are experimental, sir. The Covenant may have deliberately tried to fool them as well."

"Damn it," O'Neill swore under his breath. "Put me on speaker."

A few clicks and a beep. "You're on, sir."

"All right, people, the Covenant are in the system, on their way toward Earth. I'm initiating evac plan Sierra. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill." Evac plan Sierra involved loading up the nearly-complete _Odyssey_ and running away to the Alpha Site. The Stargate would be used mainly for transferring personnel. "Launch the _Daedalus_ immediately and tell Colonel Emerson on Abydos Station to spool up the Hades missiles." He turned to Carter. "Suit up, Carter, then make sure those data modules are safe. You can finish preparations when we're at the Alpha Site."

"Yes sir!" And she was off, to equip her SGC-variant MJOLNIR armor, which she sincerely hoped she wouldn't actually need quite yet. O'Neill sighed. It was going to be a long day. Especially since the Alpha site is several hours behind Earth AND has a 26-hour day.

* * *

That felt kind of rushed when I was writing, mainly because I was trying to finish it before the end of the long weekend. The Lorne part may be somewhat OOC because I really haven't seen much of Lorne. All I know about him I read on the Stargate Wikia. What was originally going to be a short bit showing that Jenkins wasn't dead turned into a long bit that explains a significant amount of background info. Keep in mind that I'm pretty much rebuilding the universe from the ground up to blend things as seamlessly as possible.

Please leave a review, they are like fuel for me!


	4. Invasion

Finally, I've finished chapter 4!

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_October 14, 2552  
__Abydos Station, 1632 Zulu_

"All right people, it's showtime. Battle stations!" On Colonel Emerson's word, alarms began ringing throughout the station as personnel rushed to their duty stations.

"Bring all reactors online and to full power!" shouted the chief engineer.

"Raising shields to full power, bringing long-range sensors online! All three Hades launchers read ready. Point defense systems are coming online now, sir!" said the tactical officer. She was tense, Emerson saw.

"Relax, Lieutenant. We've beat the Covenant before, this is no different." They both knew otherwise. This was the first time the Covenant had made it to Earth. And he seriously doubted it would be their last.

The tacco relaxed a bit. "Two assault carriers, thirteen CCS-class battlecruisers. Not a lot out there sir. Contacts are near Io but closing fast. Well within missile range, sir."

"That's it? Don't fire the missiles yet. We'll surprise them when they come near Mars."

"Sir, our fleet is coming to TACCON Alpha 2. Defense platforms _Cairo_ and _Malta_ are turning to face the Covenant fleet. _Daedalus_ reports in position and ready."

"Must be a scouting party. I'll bet you their whole fleet is on their way as we speak." Colonel Emerson took a deep breath. There was nothing left to do but wait.

* * *

_Earth SGC, 1035 Lima_

The only thing keeping the SGC from becoming chaos was years of training and experience. Various artifacts, supplies and equipment had to be loaded onto Odyssey or taken through the Stargate. The beaming technology on the Odyssey made things easier, but there was still plenty to do. Data had to be copied and then wiped. Most importantly (to General O'Neill anyway), they still had to get everyone off the base. The noble thing to do would be to stay and fight it out, but that was dumb. The SGC couldn't operate while it was being attacked, and the Covenant weren't just going to disappear on their own. Although there were races that did. The Asgard, for example. O'Neill had read their records and Thor sounded like a pretty cool guy. Loki, not so much.

O'Neill tried to focus on the situation at hand. The SGC was evacuating. _Daedalus_ and Abydos Station would help defend Earth. _Odyssey_, which was mostly complete, would leave. The incomplete hulls of the _Korolev_, _Hammond_ and _Athena_ were rigged to self-destruct if necessary. Virtually all of the SGC's precious data was being copied and wiped.

Colonel Carter had only one task at the moment, and that was to secure the precious data modules. She was wearing her MJOLNIR armor, just in case, but she hoped she wouldn't need it soon. The SGC-variant armour was one of many things Carter had helped develop. Just over half the weight of a standard Mark VI suit, it used thinner trinium armor plates, naquadah based power generation, and partially crystal-based computerization. The thing that really set it apart from standard armor was the shields. Based off Asgard technology, they were somewhere between three and five times stronger than those on a normal Mark VI suit. She had spent years going over all the technology from the crashed alien ship, reverse-engineering the technology and wondering what killed the Asgard. Often Sam would wonder what it would be like to meet a real live Asgard.

She tried to push the thoughts out of her head. There was work to do. The scientists had managed to spread the modules all around the science department, and she had to dart all over the base retrieving them. It seemed like a waste of time for a SPARTAN, but she _was_ chief scientist of the project, despite what Rodney McKay said.

* * *

_Abydos Station, 1754 Zulu_

"Sir, Covenant fleet is approaching Mars."

"Very well," acknowledged Colonel Emerson, "Open fire!"

Near the top of the station, now facing Mars, three doors opened, exposing missile tubes each containing a Hades missile. Solid rocket boosters at the base of each missile fired, propelling them out of the tube. As soon as they were clear, the missiles engaged their miniature hyperdrives and ejected the boosters. At the station, the outer doors closed and inner ones opened. Hydraulic rams pushed new missiles from loading cradles into the tubes and the doors were closed. The entire process took less than five seconds. It was repeated twice, for a total of nine missiles fired.

"Whoa! Look at that impact!" yelled the "green" tacco. It was impressive. The missiles were programmed to drop out _inside_ the Covenant shields, a tactic that was about twenty percent effective. The powerful warheads would cause catastrophic damage, sometimes destroying a ship in one hit. In this case, the missile hit a CCS-class battlecruiser at the aft end, completely obliterating its sublight engines and causing severe damage to the rest of the ship. Secondary explosions ripped through the ship as life pods and other craft sped away from the ship. The battlecruiser next to took a hit behind the shields as well, crippling but not completely disabling it. One other ship succumbed to repeated hits outside its shields. In the first minute of the battle, the Covenant had already lost two ships.

"Sir, Covenant ships are breaking formation and increasing speed. They're coming right for us."

"Target the two assault carriers and destroy them!"

The Covenant fleet closed rapidly on the Earth defense fleet as the missiles exploded out of their tubes. At FTL speeds, the missiles hit almost instantly upon leaving the tubes. The assault carriers were larger, tougher, and had stonger shields. The rapid maneuvering reduced the likelihood of penetrating the shields as well. One carrier took six hits before the shields collapsed, taking two others to the hull before finally breaking up.

"Sir, target is destroyed, shifting fire to second carrier. Orbital defence stations are engaging the battlecruisers. Boarding craft are approaching and point-defense weapons have opened fire."

* * *

_Regret's Carrier, 1802 Zulu_

"Prophet, we have lost five- now six, ships! We must retreat!" Val 'Saramee yelled.

"Do you dare question your Prophet?" Regret shot back. He was angry as well. The ship took a hit to the side, sending one unfortunate crewmember flying.

"We are losing! Our people are dying for no reason!" Val 'Saramee was an old warrior, and had seen wins and losses. This one was clearly a loss. He didn't really care about being accused of a heretic anymore.

"We've lost another ship! AAAAAAAAAAH!" screeched a panicked Unggoy manning the sensor console. A missile had just hit the ship, causing the entire ship to rock. It didn't help that the console next to the panicking Unggoy had just exploded.

"Compose yourself!" spat the Sangheili commander. Then he addressed the Prophet. "This is madness! We will all die here!"

"Never! Open a hyperspace window! Destination Earth!"

* * *

_Abydos Station, 1805 Zulu_

"Two battlecruisers left, one assault carrier. Boarding craft are impacting against our shields. I think we've won, sir."

"Don't count your eggs until they hatch, Lieutenant." replied Colonel Emerson. He thought they had won, too. "Target the-"

"What the hell! Sir, the assault carrier has opened a hyperspace window and the battlecruisers are moving to cover it! Holy fuck! Sorry sir, they've dropped out in the atmosphere!"

"What? Come about! Open fire, all railguns and light missiles!" Emerson knew they might as well throw rocks at the carrier. But they couldn't fire the naquadah-tipped missiles on Earth without express authorization. It would fill the atmosphere with radioactive fallout. Maybe they could take it out with a MAC gun- no, Covenant ships tended to explode spectacularly. The collateral damage would be huge. But a Covenant ship on Earth wasn't exactly good either. Damn. "Cease fire, prepare to beam down our troops."

* * *

That chapter felt kinda short but took forever to write. I guess I'm just no good at writing long or detailed chapters. Also, I suck with names. Anyway, please leave a review, etc. etc.


	5. Ground Action

I've done some changes in the formatting, let me know what you think. This is a long chapter, by the way, but an action-packed one.

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October 14, 2552 - Earth SGC - Control Room

"Sir, the ship is heading right for us!" Walter said, reading the sensor readout. "They're going to land on top of the hangars where the ships are being constructed."

"Damn it!" O'Neill swore. He could blow the hangars, losing the ships under construction and probably taking out the carrier in the process. Or he could hold his ground at the SGC instead, holding out until the base was evacuated, but leaving the ships to be picked over by the Covenant. They didn't have enough troops to hold the hangars- did they? "Reinforcements?"

"Some orbitally dropped right away, sir, but the heavy equipment and most of the forces won't be here for a few hours."

"All right, blow only the Athena once they land, it's nowhere near finished anyway. It'll blow a hole right through the middle of their carrier. Then we move into the hangars, hold our ground in Korolev's hangar and form a defensive perimeter. Relax, Walter, this is a piece of cake compared to some of the things we've done before." Which was stretching the truth, but only a bit. "Oh, and get Spartan Team One onto that ship, preferably without being seen."

_Earth SGC - Armory_

Carter never thought it would come to this. Sure, she'd fought on Covenant planets, and other human planets, and even on some colony worlds, but never on Earth. It didn't feel good, but she had a job to do. Spartan Team One consisted of her, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Major John Sheppard, and Daniel Jackson. Each had their specialties. Hers was technology, "making things do stuff the Covenant don't want them to do" as O'Neill put it. Jackson was a late addition, originally being rejected from the progam on psychological grounds and going into archeology and linguistics. He was perfect for negotiating and dealing with the locals. Sheppard seemed to have a magic touch for turning things on. Sam wasn't sure if it was just superstition or if there was some logical reason for it. Mitchell was a lot like Sheppard, but also very different. The team was very loose, but worked together well.

Sam already had her Desert Eagle on a magnetic holster on her hip. It was actually a reproduction that she had bought years ago, when the standard-issue equipment was garbage. Chambered in the more modern 12.7x40mm round, it was more powerful than the original. The only thing Sam didn't like about the pistol was it's small 7-round capacity. The recoil was bad, but hardly noticeable for a SPARTAN.

"You're still using that old relic?" Sheppard had asked her once.

"It's- well, maybe not lucky, but it's been with me through some tough times and some good times. It would be a shame to get rid of it." And nobody ever asked her about it again.

Carter decided to take an MA305S carbine. It was basically a shortened version of the standard assault rifle, with some modifications that only the SGC bothered with, such as smart-linked scope and vertical foregrip. Jackson did the same, but Sheppard took an M323 and Mitchell took a BR355. All of them carried M306 pistols, the SGC version of the big pistols that everyone in the UNSC seemed to carry.

"All right, are we ready?" Sheppard asked. It was a rhetorical question. "Let's do this."

_Earth SGC - Odyssey Hangar Bay_

The empty hangar bay was a mess. The Athena exploded just before the carrier landed, causing it to tip to one side and smash the empty Odyssey and Daedalus hangars. The openable roof, made of thick, strong trinium, was almost completely caved in, with almost half of it broken off. The various pieces of ship and roof had smashed walkways and completely buried the floor, killing two technicians and trapping another in the process. Though of questionable structural stability, the Covenant had used it as a primary entrance point.

"Where the hell are our reinforcements?" yelled Williams. There were only two SG teams of five people each defending the hangar. She was on the machine gun, an M319. Though manufactured only a few months ago, it was based on a design that went back hundreds of years. Firing massive .50 BMG bullet of equally antiquated design, it was nevertheless effective against Covenant ground troops. None of this occured to Sergeant Williams at this point. They were being swarmed. It seemed that there were hundreds of Grunts (apparently they were actually called Unggoy), although there were only about half that. They were led by several Elites (which were not actually called Elites). Those were the priority targets. Take out the Elites, and they lose the will to fight. She took aim at one Elite and pulled the trigger. A line of tracers dropped his shields in under a second, tearing through his armour and shredding his organs. He was dead before he hit the ground.

"They're still at least a minute out!" Lorne yelled. But would it make any difference? The reinforcements that were on their way were few in number and not as well equipped as the SGC troops. The Covenant just kept pouring out of their ship. He had long since expended all the ammo for his assault rifle and was now down to a pistol and plasma rifle he picked up. Lorne fired both at once into a group of Grunts. He winced as plasma bolts caused his shields to flare. He ducked behind the rubble again and threw the empty pistol to the side.

Dropping soldiers from orbit using individual pods is common practice for the UNSC. It was a quick way to get to the surface of a planet, but not without risks. The pods were mass produced and designed to be disposable- some were defective. Sometimes a pod would be hit by space junk or an asteroid, the chute would fail to deploy, or the pod would crash into a lake or simply burn up because of a flawed heat shield. Thousands of pods were dropped on or near the SGC. Of course, the Covenant carrier was in the way. Many of the pods fell on top of it, releasing the soldier either on or inside the enemy vessel. This was both a curse and a blessing. They could do quite a bit of damage inside the ship, but were incapable of helping the defenders below.

"What the hell?" screamed Jenkins. Over the constant gunfire, they could hear the pods crashing above. "Bloody hell, I think the pods are hitting the carrier!"

"Grenade!" yelled Williams. A plasma grenade had landed directly behind the defenders. These grenades were nasty- they couldn't be kicked or picked up because they stuck to whatever surface they landed on. It exploded, killing one soldier and severly injuring another. There were now only five humans able to fight, all running out of ammo. "We're going to have to fall back, sir!"

"Agreed! Get the wounded out of here, we're falling back! Go, go, go! Covering fire and grenades, let's go, move!" Lorne held down what passed for a trigger on the plasma rifle and tossed his last grenade. Almost immediately, the rifle stopped firing. The piece of junk was- no, not dead, it had plenty of charge. It was broken. Lorne was taking a lot of fire now, and the low shield alarm was the last thing he wanted to hear at the moment. He turned to run, but tripped on a jagged I-beam and fell on the ground hard, twisting his left leg.

Major Lorne tried to get up and screamed in pain. His left leg was broken, and there was no way he would be able to walk. He tried crawling toward the blast doors, but couldn't move very fast. Most of the remaining defenders were already there. Williams had the machine gun and was firing it from the hip- like a hero from an old action movie, except most of those were male. Two of the others were carrying the injured, and the last one must already be on the other side.

"Sir!" yelled Jenkins. Her commander was down. She turned around and ran back into the hangar bay, firing her SMG in the general direction of the Covenant forces. Her shields began to drain rapidly.

"Leave me here, that's an order!" Lorne gasped. Had he broken some ribs, too? The adrenaline was beginning to leave his system, and the pain started to set in.

"No sir!" yelled Jenkins, pulling him up and beginning to half-drag him under one shoulder. Her shields failed and she began to feel the impacts of the plasma bolts through her armour. Williams was in the doorway, now using her pistol, the machinegun having run out of ammo. As soon as they were through, she hit the button to close the blast door. Amazingly, it closed almost all the way. Well, the Covenant would probably be able to pry it open, but it would slow them down. Lorne fell unconcious, almost bringing Jenkins to the floor with him.

Gunnery Sergeant Williams was now in command. "We have to get the wounded out of here, let's go! The Covenant ship is blocking beaming, we're going to have to carry them. Move out!"

_Earth SGC - Control Room_

"Sir, we're fighting a losing battle. We've just lost Hangar Six. SG-4 and -5. Lorne's team, sir. Half of them have survived and are retreating." Walter knew he would just get himself killed, but at this point he wanted to go out there himself.

So did O'Neill, but they needed a leader right now, and that was that. He did have a pistol, and half-hoped he'd get to use it. "It was an uphill battle, they had no chance. Step up the evacuation, everyone fall back to the main complex. Make sure they don't find out where the Alpha Site is!"

"Already did that, sir. It's completely wiped from all the computers."

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Walter."

_Above Earth SGC - Covenant Carrier_

"Hurry up, Sam!" yelled Cameron Mitchell. Getting to this computer console which was important in a way only Sam understood had been hard enough. Now there were seemingly endless hordes of Covenant moving in on their position. Even SGC-variant MJOLNIR armour could only take so much punishment.

"Guys, we need to get out of here. Right now!" said Carter. This was not good. She had disabled the shields which were jamming their beaming technology, but found out the ship was going to take off.

"Why?" asked Sheppard, who was reloading his machinegun. "We just spent all this effort to get here, and now we have to get out?"

"The ship is going to take off- they've got the coordinates to another ringworld," Sam unplugged her tablet from the console. A direct neural link was available, but Sam woudn't trust it. Not after what happened on P7J-989. A link with her suit was bad enough. Hooking her brain into alien technology wan't something you would want to do everyday, or ever. She shouldered her rifle and fired off a burst, exploding a Grunt's head. They pushed into the corridor, and ran to the left, into another corridor. Sam ran to the other end and pushed a device she had made into the control panel, sealing the doors, at least for the moment.

"Hey, watch out, you almost killed me!" yelled a human voice. It was one of the marines that had been dropped into the ship. His pod was behind him, a gaping hole above it. "Corporal Miller, sir, UNSC marines."

"What happened?" asked Mitchell.

"What do you think happened? I got dropped on top of this bloody ship, that's what happened! Been fighting for my life ever since, sir."

"That's not good," interrupted Daniel. Unlike the others, he could understand the language the Covenant spoke. He had just heard a particularily alarming announcement. "I don't think we're going to make it. They're leaving, in about two minutes... and they're diverting troops to capture 'not one but four demons'. We're not going to make it."

"He's right," said Sheppard. "It took us a lot longer than that to get in, and getting in is always the easy part."

"They're cutting through the doors!" yelled Sam, getting ready for the incoming assault. She only had two magazines left, but she had picked up a plasma rifle, which was actually more of a machine pistol.

"Why don't you go up the hole?" chimed in the Marine corporal.

"Excuse me?"

"Up the hole the pod made. It's not that far, and it's only two decks up to the top of the ship. After that, I guess you would just have to run."

"He's on to something," said Daniel. "We go up top and get beamed out. It should work."

"They're about to break through! We have to go now!" yelled Carter. Daniel was the first to go up the hole. He climbed onto the pod, then jumped, grabbing the edge of the hole and pulling himself up. As soon as he made it up, the door blew open and two Elites stormed in, with Grunts in behind. Carter was closest to the door, and was immediately assaulted. He hissed something incomprehensible and tried to hit her with his gun. Sam dove to the right, grabbing his legs and pulling the Elite down. She stabbed her knife through the equivalent of a heart. He flailed around as he died, hitting Carter with his plasma rifle. Unfazed, she got up, bringing her own plasma rifle up and firing point blank into the other Elite. She ran and leapt up into the hole in the ceiling, almost falling but being dragged up by one of the others.

Corporal Miller was still in the room, shooting the troops that tried to enter through the breached doorway.

"What are you doing!" yelled Daniel.

"What, you think I didn't try to go up that way? I did, and couldn't make it!" He paused to hit a Jackal that had got too close. "You're SPARTANs, I'm just an ordinary grunt. Go, I'll hold them off!"

Mitchell and Sheppard shared a look. Another idiot trying to be a hero, this time for no apparent reason. Supported by Mitchell, Sheppard grabbed the soldier's arm and hauled him up. "No time for heroics, let's go!"

Carter had managed to get to the next deck, and was helping Jackson up. The now embarassed corporal was next, then Sheppard, then Mitchell.

The next deck was full of Grunts. Though weak, the room was fairly small, and there were quite a few of them. Sheppard took his machinegun and ripped through seven of them in one burst. "One more, let's go!"

"No good, I can't reach!" Mitchell tried to jump up. "The ship's starting to take off, we have to find another way out soon!"

"Over here!" yelled Carter. "This corridor leads to an access hatch out of here!" The ship was beginning to shake as it lifted off.

_Earth SGC - Control Room_

"Sir, the Covenant carrier is lifting off." Walter informed from his console.

"Already? They still have troops on the ground!" It wasn't really a surprise to O'Neill. The Covenant was willing to throw away troops- but only if they had to. Why would they be in such a rush?

"Powering the hyperdrive, too, sir! They are in a hurry. The shields blocking our beaming technology have dropped. Still no word from SG-1, sir. Wait- I'm getting a transmission. Putting it on speaker."

"This is SG-1, requesting immediate beam-out. The ship is taking off, we're still on top of it- everyone hold on!" It was a male voice, probably Sheppard or Mitchell. The quality was pretty bad- active hyperdrives tended to interfere with transmissions.

"Beam them out! I can't believe it, we've won. I probably owe some people money now." It was an attempt at levity, but the situation was still tense. There were still Covenant on the ground, but reinforcements were beginning to arrive in force. The battle wasn't over, but it was clear who had won.

* * *

At over 2700 words, this is the longest chapter of any story I've ever written, fanfiction and non-fanfiction. It kind of just ended up that way. Like many others, I divide my fics into chapters by events, not by length. This is the first time I've tried to write action sequences; I think I did okay but not great. What do you think? Please leave a review!


	6. Alpha Site

I apologize for the delay. I've been kind of busy with other things, and not really motivated. Once I start, though, it goes pretty fast.

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October 15, 2552 - Alpha Site

The brave thing to do would be to stay, but O'Neill knew that was stupid. There was a very real possibility that Earth would fall. Hopefully the Alpha Site was safe. It was top secret, and the records all destroyed before the Covenant attacked- probably. There was probably a reference in some mid-level bureaucrat's file cabinet or something. But they were in a bunker, this part buried inside a mountain. The massive complex was shielded, made of thick concrete, and had it's own food, water and air supplies. There were two orbital defense platforms in geosynchronous orbit- the new _Abydos_ type platforms, not the MAC ones, in addition to ground-based anti-fighter and Hades missiles. Plus the Odyssey, being completed in one of the docking bays, and the _Bonaparte_ under construction. So the SGC, in addition to the permanent and temporary (maybe not for much longer) Alpha Site personnel were all secure. For the moment.

The general's musings were interrupted by the intercom. "Sir, you're going to want to see this." Carter's voice. "It's about The Plan." O'Neill had taken to calling it The Plan just before the Covenant attack.

"All right. I'm on my way." The paperwork could wait. After all, it might become irrelevant in a few days.

* * *

The briefing room here at the Alpha Site was more comfortable. Well it could become her permanent home if things came to that. Damn, it just felt so wrong to abandon Earth like that. But if this plan worked, it could mean the end of the Covenant. _And if it didn't?_ Carter asked herself. _No time for doubts now._

At this point, it was a discussion between SG-1, General O'Neill, and Doctors McKay and Zelenka. "All right, let's get started," McKay said, "We've managed to retrieve a significant amount of data on High Charity. Retrieving it was easy. Interpreting and translating it took a lot more time but I think we did a pretty good job. Actually, it was difficult- well, not for me- because the Covenant don't store information like we do-"

The general cut him off. "I don't want to know the details. Just give me the intel."

A hologram of a mushroom-shaped object appeared in the centre of the briefing table. "This is High Charity, their capital. It is a hyperspace-capable city-ship around 350 kilometers in diameter," Carter waved her hand and it turned transparent and zoomed in. "The tactical situation may be far better than what we thought. In the center of the city is what they call a "Forerunner Dreadnought" or "Keyship". It may be the only Ancient battleship left in this galaxy." She paused to let everyone look at it.

The dreadnought was somewhat ugly compared to Covenant and even other Ancient designs, probably a sign of desperation as their empire collapsed. It was long and not excessively thin or fat, engines at the back with a triangular structure sticking out the top and two small trapezoidal "wings", all located at the extreme aft end of the ship. Around the middle there were roughly cylindrical structures along each side, with a semi-rounded bow. The entire ship was finished in gray. It was not a clean design- the hull was rough, though the resolution of the hologram was too low to see all the details.

"The Stargate is located within the ship, slightly forward of the engine structures. The ship actually powers _High Charity_!"

"So?" it was O'Neill again.

Carter was getting excited. "Sir, that ship is thousands of years old! The energy demands of the city must be enormous."

"So, what's the plan?"

Sheppard answered this one. "Go in, rig the ship to blow, and get out."

"I disagree." Carter argued. "The amount of technology we could gain from this ship is incredible. It could finally give us the edge we need against the Covenant. And if it can power the city, I think there is a very real possibility that it is still capable of space flight."

"Okay, first, the Covenant have had it for- how long? At least a hundred years, probably more than that, right?" Carter nodded at the General's question. "So, why haven't they kicked our asses yet?"

"We think they have religious objections," answered Daniel, "You see, the Covenant pretty much worship the Ancients as gods. It would be sacrilege for them to tear the ship apart or even study it in detail, no matter what kind of technology could be gained. We also know that they cannot use Ancient technology the same way we can, so there may be a very practical reason as well."

"All right, what if the ship doesn't fly?"

"Then we go with Sheppard's plan."

"I don't like the amount of unknowns, but it will have to do. Get a plan together. I'm going to get approval for this mission." Damn bureaucrats.

* * *

Communication with Earth was a pain in the ass. They couldn't risk using a subspace link, which could give away the location of the Alpha Site or even be monitored and decrypted by the Covenant. So every time they wanted to talk, they had to dial Earth. The SGC on Earth was running on a skeleton crew ready to run and destroy the base at a moment's notice. Even still, O'Neill worried about their safety- and the safety of the Alpha Site. If the Covenant caught one alive...

"Chevron seven locked! The channel is now open, sir."

"Thank you, Walter. Have it patched to my office."

Five minutes later, a happy voice came over the intercom. "All right, we have approval! You can shut it down now."

* * *

_October 16, 2552 - Alpha Site_

There were over sixty people in the spacious gateroom. That included fourteen SG teams worth of soldiers, some scientific personnel including McKay and Zelenka , and Doctor Fraiser. They were all armed and had full combat armour. The scientific personnel carried tablets and various tools and devices, and the doctor and the medics carried medical equipment. SG-1 carried the same loadout as the last mission. O'Neill made a speech from the control room.

"As you know, I'm horrible at speeches- absolutely horrible. I'll be honest- this is the most dangerous mission the SGC has ever conducted. It is also the most important. Failure is not an option. It would mean the end of the SGC, and possibly the end of mankind. If we succeed, we might end this war, or at least significantly shorten it. You've all been briefed, you know what to do," he turned to Walter, "Dial the gate."

* * *

I apologize for the brevity and poor writing of this chapter. I was in a hurry to get it out, and I have other things to get done. I guess I'm not a natural writer like some of the people here. Anyway, please leave a review. Preferably not a trolling one.


	7. High Charity

Once again, I apologize for the rushed nature of the previous chapter. In addition, I forgot to mention that the "Keyship" is actually based off the Orion/Aurora, not the Halo Forerunner Dreadnought. You can probably guess what the Ark will be at this point.

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_October 15, 2552 - High Charity_

The gateroom was empty except for the Stargate, the dialing console located in a room forward and above, similar to the layout of the Earth SGC. After thousands of years of inactivity, the symbols began to light up blue in sequence, the chevrons lighting as the adjacent symbols became lit. The entire room was lit blue as it activated, the unstable vortex almost touching the wall.

A MALP robot probe was the first through. A moment later, the four SPARTANs emerged.

"Huh," said Daniel as he moved away from the Stargate, making way for the remaining troops.

"What is it?" asked Carter, "Oh, the gate. Wow, it's different. I mean, the basic design is the same, and so are the symbols, but-"

"It's blue, and it doesn't seem to be capable of rotating."

"Forget it," said Mitchell, a hint of regret in his voice, "We have a mission to accomplish."

"All right, everyone here? You know what to do, move out!" Carter began to head forward with Sheppard, Zelenka and a few SG teams worth of troops. They would fan out, Carter, Sheppard and Zelenka heading to the bridge, control room, or whatever it was, McKay and the remaining SPARTANs heading for what passed for engineering, and the rest securing the ship.

* * *

They had almost made it to the control room when the sound of gunfire came from down the corridor. "Contact, contact! Three of the little ones, but I think they've managed to get word out!" The ship was mostly deserted, but not completely empty. Alarms began blaring outside the ship, and the team began to run toward the bridge.

"Doctor McKay, what's your status?" Carter's voice crackled over the radio.

"Well, we have power, coming from some zero-point device, other than that I don't know! Look, I just got here, okay? Why couldn't they get an AI for this mission?" There was gunfire in the background. Not a good sign.

"Damn it, everything's dead!" Carter observed. Only the lights were on in the bridge- the consoles were all dead. She removed a panel to get to the crystal circuitry behind it. Before she could do anything, the room sprang to life.

"Wonder what Rodney did," said Sheppard.

"What did you do up there?" his voice crackled over the radio, "Because everything is on now! Not on as in it can fly now, but I mean, everything's powering up!"

"Don't look at me!" Sheppard protested, "All I did was lean against this console!"

"Well, you did something," Carter said, her fingers flying over the console, "Bringing internal sensors online- damn! Lots of them, swarming the ship! I'm going to try to seal it off, but the damage is pretty extensive. McKay, we need power, we need the shields up, and we need to get this ship out of here!"

"Look, I'm trying! The Covenant are right outside my door and this ship has taken a lot of damage! They prettied it up but a lot of systems are down, a lot of power conduits are- what the hell is this? Oh no, no, no! They've jury rigged some sort of system to power the city. It's very crude and it's sapping power away from the engines!"

"All right. You get the engines online, I'll work on the shields. Be advised, the Covenant are swarming the aft end of the ship, probably due to it's physical location- no, hull breach below the engines."

"Is this going to take a while? Because if it is, I'm going to sit down." Sheppard gestured to the chair. He was joking, of course.

"Go ahead. Maybe it'll bring these shields online."

He did, if only as a retort. As soon as he sat down, the chair lit up and angled backward. It wasn't comfortable for a SPARTAN. For that matter, it probably wasn't a very comfortable chair period.

"I can't believe it! Shields are up!" McKay sputtered, "I still can't deactivate the power link- but the engines are powering up!"

"Okay, this is weird," Sheppard said from the chair, "It feels like I'm connected with the ship somehow."

"Well, it was you that brought the shields online. Try thinking of- damn it! Covenant, closing on our position!" Sheppard began to get out of the chair, but Carter objected. "No, stay in that, it's obvious that you're controlling the ship. Try thinking of taking off, pilot it with your mind." She held an SMG in one hand and a captured and recharged plasma rifle in the other. Dual-wielding wasn't exactly accurate, but the volume of fire was effective in close quarters.

"We're taking off!" McKay yelled, a lot of gunfire in the background, "But the energy link is still engaged! I'm trying to disable- damn it! They're right outside the door and cutting through!"

"SG-4 and -5, pull back to engineering and reinforce-" The door to the bridge blew off, narrowly missing Carter's head. Immediately she rolled to the right and opened fire, taking down three Grunts and an Elite in less than five seconds. There were a lot of them, but only one narrow doorway. Two Elites attempted to barge in, plasma bolts hitting her shields as she mowed them down. A plasma grenade flew in and detonated only a foot away.

A whining alarm made Carter painfully aware that her shields were down. The trinium alloy was a lot tougher than Titanium-A, but the plasma bolts still began to burn through it. She took cover behind a console and reloaded her SMG, firing blindly in the general direction of the door. A lucky shot from a Grunt's needler smashed into the weapon and exploded, rendering it completely useless.

* * *

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" McKay had to get the energy beam disabled, and quickly. Although the damage it was doing to the city wasn't necessarily a bad thing, the ship was beginning to poke out of High Charity, and they needed the power for the shields and to engage the hyperdrive. There was an entire Covenant fleet outside, and with that much power being wasted there was no way they'd survive. "Damn it!" The ship shook violently as plasma began impacting the shields at the bow. "Wait- yes!" It was disabled, and the power was now being diverted to the shields. He ducked behind the console nervously pulling out his pistol as three Elites barged in.

Carter was now down to Sheppard's assault rifle and her pistol. Whoever said it was impossible to use both at the same time never tried it. The recoil made it horribly inaccurate, but it was fairly effective at point blank. But they were still coming, and she was down to her last magazines. Maybe she could get to one of the Covenant weapons-

Gunfire erupted from behind the group of Covenant, tearing them to pieces. SG-7 began pushing them back, their numbers few but their adrenaline high. A brilliant blue-white beam erupted from a Covenant carrier, hitting roughly amidships but being completely deflected by their shields.

"Weapons, this ship has got to have some!" Carter yelled at Sheppard, "McKay, get that hyperdrive online! The shields won't last forever."

Almost as if by magic, brilliant yellow projectiles began streaming from the ship, arcing toward the carrier and High Charity. They swarmed around the city, ripping through it in seconds. The remaining drones joined up with ones streaming out of the ship and began tearing up the Covenant fleet. It was beautiful in a twisted way. Some of the ships exploded, but most simply lost power and became lifeless, drifting hulks, ripped to pieces. Behind the ship, the pieces of High Charity drifted apart.

"Opening a hyperspace window in three... two... one..." Less than an hour after the mission began, the Covenant holy city was ripped to pieces, its defensive fleet decimated.

* * *

ATA FTW! It kind of felt cheap to have the ship rip through the fleet like that, but the heavily damaged Orion destroyed a hive-ship, and this one is in much better condition and has something the Orion didn't (should be obvious what).

As you can tell by the first paragraph, I am horrible at describing stuff. This chapter felt too short and rushed, but I think it turned out okay- not great, but okay. As always, please review. No one seems to do so, and it makes me wonder if people are actually reading this.


	8. Adrift

Alright, I know at least one person is going to mention that High Charity can move around and wouldn't have a fixed gate address. Well, in this reality, it's not capable of doing so. It might be possible to build a hyperdrive big enough to achieve interstellar travel, but you'd have to be an Ancient or Asgard to do it.

* * *

_October 17, 2552 - Alpha Site_

O'Neill sighed. It had been hours, but they still hadn't heard anything about the mission. There may not be anyone left. Had he just sent all those men and women to be slaughtered? Were they still fighting? They had already tried dialing, and it didn't work. Either they succeeded or failed completely. Well, there was no use wondering.

* * *

_The _Orion

It was better than Hippoforalkus. Searching the database had yielded the original name of the ship, and a wealth of knowledge. It was more than they ever could have hoped for. The _Orion_ alone could turn the tides of the war, and they might be able to build more warships like her.

The current situation, however, wasn't so great. Two thirds of the way to the Alpha Site, the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Daniel remembered McKay explaining why. "See this?" he waved a crystalline object, about the size of a loaf of bread by more a tapered cylinder, mostly yellow with green and red spots. "I call it a ZPM," pronounced "ZedPM", "or Zero Point Module. This little sucker has been powering the city for well over a thousand years- maybe even ten thousand. It's dead. It was almost depleted when we took off- launching all those drones used it all up. Well, technically the hyperspace jump did-"

"Rodney! I don't need the details. What's our current situation?"

"Right, sorry. The ZPM is dead, and the Covenant seem to have trashed the ship's main reactor trying to draw more and more from it. Right now we are on emergency power only- we have life support, and that's about it. It gets better, though. By my estimates, that too will fail within the next twenty-four hours."

That was ten hours ago. Carter, McKay, and Zelenka were trying to get power back online. And he, Daniel Jackson, was trying to find another-

"That's it. Uh, guys, I think I've got something. Another ZPM, on Proclarush Taonas- an old Ancient outpost. Wait, maybe not. It says that the Stargate is buried and unusable."

"What did you just say?" Sam's tired voice asked over the radio.

"That the Stargate is buried and unusable."

"Damn it, why didn't I think of that?"

"What? Oh, I think I see where you're going. We use the Stargate to dial Earth or the Alpha Site."

"And then we get them to send a naquadah generator, which will hopefully provide enough power-"

"To what?" a third voice added. It was Rodney McKay. "Power the hyperdrive? No way. Look, it'll buy us some time, but we won't be getting out of here using just a naquadah generator."

A fourth voice; Sheppard. "So, we dial out, get a naquadah generator and not die, and someone else can go get the ZPM, bring it back here, and we're in business."

"Yes," said McKay, "With a few caveats. First, the Covenant might find us first. I find that somewhat unlikely, but they are kind of angry that we destroyed their capital. Second, that we would even be able to power up the gate. And of course we have to get all this done before we suffocate."

"It's possible," Zelenka. "If we reroute power from all the auxiliary power banks-"

"We'll suffocate," argued Rodney.

"You said it yourself Rodney," Zelenka shot back, "The main power core is not repairable. This is the only option."

"How much air will we have?" asked Mitchell.

"Well, it's a big ship, but that won't really matter if there isn't power to circulate the air. So I'd say the breathable air is measured in minutes- the specifics depend on a variety of factors," answered McKay, "After that, half an hour in our suits- four hours for you SPARTANs though. Of course, space is very cold so we'll probably all freeze to death in about an hour anyway. This armor isn't a spacesuit. It says right here- 'for intermittent vacuum use only'."

"Unless something goes horribly wrong-"

"Don't say that. Murphy's Law. Something will."

Carter ignored him. "We'll have the generators in before that. It's close and I don't like it, but we don't have any other choice." She paused. "We might have more time if we only open it for a moment to send a transmission through."

* * *

_Alpha Site_

"Unscheduled offworld activation!" Walter's voice woke O'Neill up. Damn, sleeping at the desk again. He got up and ran toward the control room, which was thankfully only one level down and not far away.

"We're receiving a transmission. Putting it on speaker, sir."

"This is Colonel Carter, we have secured the starship- however power and life support are running out- requesting assistance. A naquadah generator would be nice, sir."

Seconds later, the Stargate disengaged. "That's it?"

"Not quite, sir. We've received a compressed and encoded data transmission. It contains coordinates to their current location and a gate address accompanied by the letters ZPM. It cuts out after that, sir."

"All right. Launch Prometheus and send it to the first set of coordinates." He paused, "Tell them to wait for me."

"Yes sir."

* * *

_The _Orion

"Well, it's not that bad. We still have power." Zelenka was trying to calm McKay down. As usual, it served only to annoy him further.

"Yeah, how much. The lights are going to go out in what, five minutes? Then after about an hour, we're all frozen corpses- wait, this can't be right. We're picking up a ship, and it's headed right for us!"

"I hope it's one of ours," Sheppard said over the radio, "Because we are completely defenseless."

"Well, we're going to find out in about five seconds."

Sheppard looked out the bridge window. Sure enough, seconds later the blue-green hyperspace rupture appeared and the boxy shape of the _Prometheus _emerged. "Well, you can quit worrying. It's the _Prometheus_."

* * *

"General O'Neill, what a surprise to see you," said Sheppard. SG-1, as well as some personnel working on the ship, were all on the bridge.

"All right. So, how did it go?"

Carter was the first to answer. "Pretty good, sir. We have injured, but we didn't lose anyone. It was tense when we came under fire and couldn't get the engines online, but we made it. This ship is amazing, sir. It took out most of a Covenant fleet before we jumped into hyperspace. Sheppard is the real hero here, though."

"All I did was sit in the chair!"

"You're the only one it worked with. I tried it, so did Sam, Rodney, and uh, what's his name? Zelenka."

"May I?" O'Neill gestured to the chair, "I mean, it's not going to destroy everything if I sit in it, right?"

"Go ahead, sir. Most likely nothing will happen."

He sat down, and the chair lit up again, surprising everyone. "I guess it works with you, too." said Sheppard.

"Neat. This controls the ship, I take it?"

"Yes sir," said Carter, "But there's nothing to control right now. The naquadah generators will keep the life support going, but that's about it."

"So, we need that ZPM thing to make it go?"

"Yes sir," Carter answered. Though the general often acted simple or childish, he was actually quite intelligent. "The main reactor is useless. If we could get it into drydock, we could probably repair it or at least rig something up, but a ZPM is the best and currently the only option."

Daniel Jackson cut in before O'Neill could respond. "We did find a reference to a planet called Proclarush Taonas, which seems to have one. There is one problem, though. The gate is buried or otherwise unusable- the database is kind of vague on that."

"I don't fell comfortable leaving the- what did you call it? Orion- unguarded."

"So send the Odyssey," Mitchell suggested. "We probably won't get attacked- I don't even know if the Covenant have been into that area of the galaxy yet."

"We? Oh no, we're staying right here. I can send Major Lorne's team-"

Carter cut him off, "Sir, we may need someone who can use Ancient technology, and you're the head of the SGC. Sheppard has to be on that team, and I recommend Daniel and either Doctor McKay or Zelenka as well."

"Alright, fine, you win. SG-1, you have a go."

* * *

_UNSC Odyssey_

"Are you sure this is the right planet? It doesn't look like somewhere you'd put a ZPM."

"I'm sure," Sheppard responded, "Call it a gut feeling."

"Sir, sensors read an energy signature on the planet. It seems to be in some sort of cavern- possibly an artificial one. Atmosphere is nitrogen-oxygen but too toxic to be considered breathable, and radiation levels are high."

"You're SPARTANs," said the commander of the _Odyssey_, "You'll be fine. We'll beam you down inside the cavern. We'll sit in geosynchronous orbit in case you need a quick evac."

* * *

_Proclarush Taonas_

The cavern was surprisingly empty, except for a single chair on a platform. Sheppard immediately walked over and sat in it. It sprang to life, lighting the entire rock dome blue.

"Try thinking about the ZPM," Carter suggested over the radio. A hole in the platform opened and the ZPM slid out. "_Odyssey_, be ready to beam us out. The ZPM seems to be the only thing holding this place together." She nodded at Daniel, who took the ZPM. As soon as it was out, the room began to shake and the chair shut down. "Beam us up now! The cavern is collapsing!"

* * *

_October 18, 2552 - The _Orion

"Engines powering up, everything's in the green! I'd say this ZPM is mostly full. General, we are up and running! Weapons, shields, not at a hundred percent but it's still better than anything we have!" McKay said very cheerfully.

O'Neill answered in a sobering tone, "Well, it better be. We just received a transmission from Earth. The Covenant are coming in force. The _Orion_ is to proceed there immediately and assist in its defense."

* * *

Eh, probably not the best chapter I've written, but probably not the worst one either. It felt somewhat rushed near the end. There are still several chapters to go, but I can see the end in sight now. Don't be sad! I'm planning both a prequel and a sequel. Also, if you like Mass Effect, I have another epic Stargate crossover coming soon. Not an AU this time- more a matter bridge and communication stone thing.


	9. The Battle For Earth

After a semi-long hiatus, I've finished another chapter. I'm not really happy with this chapter. The first part feels rushed, the second part dragged out. Maybe I'm a bad writer, maybe I'm impatient. I should probably get someone to beta, as things that are clear in my head may not necessarily be clear in the minds of others. I'm not one to rewrite things, though, but I may add a timeline. As always, please leave a review

* * *

October 18, 2552 - Orbital Defense Station Chulak

O'Neill watched the _Orion_ pull away from the _Prometheus_. It was a beautiful ship in its own way. It was rough and dotted with energy cannons, the hull showing signs of battle damage, possibly from thousands of years ago. The _Orion_ was built for war, and it already tore up one Covenant fleet. They could only hope it (in the SGC, for the most part ships were "it", not "she") would be able to tear apart another.

There was a flash of blue-green light as a hyperspace window opened. O'Neill dared not think of the consequences if it couldn't. A moment later, the _Prometheus_ disappeared in a similar fashion.

Well, they had gotten lucky with the mission. It almost seemed too easy- like the Covenant had let them? No, that was impossible. They wouldn't do something that stupid. The Covenant weren't stupid. Just cocky and arrogant. They probably didn't even know about the Stargate onboard the _Orion_. Sure as hell they couldn't activate it. O'Neill was still surprised that he could.

He turned away as the _Daedalus_ jumped into hyperspace. No, defeating the System Lords had made the Covenant overconfident. He wished that they were going up against them. They sounded a lot less competent- and a lot more fun.

_October 18, 2552 - Orion_

It had already begun.

When the _Orion_ dropped out of hyperspace, the first thing Sheppard saw was a UNSC frigate getting hit by a Covenant energy beam, the crippled mass crumbling against the _Orion_'s shields. There were so many ships, almost like a blanket of ships descending on Earth. He counted over a dozen assault carriers alone- or was the chair telling him that?

The Covenant obviously recognized the _Orion_ as a major threat. Almost immediately several Covenant vessels turned away from the battered UNSC fleet and destroyed defense platforms and shifted fire to the newly arriving SGC ships. The Prometheus and Daedalus fired off volleys of Hades missiles as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace, Covenant energy weapons already bombarding their shields.

Almost magically, with a few almost instinctual thoughts, the yellow projectiles (Sheppard thought of them as "drones", but McKay called them "high-energy phasic missiles") began emerging from the top of the ship in swarms. They swarmed around and through the Covenant ships, punching right through the shields and tearing them to pieces. There was nothing quite like it. An assault carrier was literally being gutted before his eyes. But there were a lot of ships, and only one _Orion_.

Shields- holding but weakening. Weapons firing at maximum rate. ZPM at 57% charge. Antarctica? More drones in Antarctica? Was his mind just making things up? Well, no harm in trying.

Immediately after thinking that, a swarm of drones emerged from near the south pole of Earth. A handful of ships had made it into orbit, and they were immediately ripped to pieces. Further out, a massive carrier exploded, then two CCS cruisers, then a handful of smaller ships. The SGC ships were out of Hades missiles and were now blasting away with small railguns, the MAC guns having been dropped in the early design stages. The _Orion_ was launching drones almost continuously, and now engaging with energy cannons as well.

The Covenant fleet was falling to pieces, both literally and figuratively. As the last carrier was shredded by railguns and a MAC round, the remnants of the fleet began jumping away into hyperspace. In a matter of minutes, the tides had turned. But the cost was tremendous.

A massive amount of debris floated in the vacuum of space. A lot of it was Covenant, but a lot of it was UNSC. Sheppard estimated that maybe three-quarters of the UNSC fleet was destroyed. The Prometheus had lost its shields just before the Covenant jumped away. Trinium-naquadah alloy was a lot stronger than Titanium-A, but there were still large holes and burns in the hull. Almost all of the Daggers launched were now space junk, their pilots now casualties on a list far too long.

* * *

_October 19, 2552 - Alpha Site_

Despite what the reports said, O'Neill couldn't believe the war was over. Earth was saved, High Charity was gone. They had won on Delta Halo, preventing it from firing. Of course, a lot of it was thanks to the Sangheili, splitting the Covenant into two factions. In a matter of weeks, a war that had been raging for years came to an end.

It was not without its costs. A massive debris field floated around Earth, the wreckage of hundreds of ships destroyed in battle. Billions were dead, both on the colonies and on Earth. He didn't know or care how many of the Covenant had died. The majority of Earth's colonies were uninhabitable now. Countless human civilizations had been wiped out at the hands of the Covenant. Earth herself was a smoking ruin for the most part. O'Neill certainly hoped there wasn't another big threat out there, because even in the unlikely event that they Covenant and UNSC worked together, they wouldn't be able to stop it. Even one of the SGC's precious ships was out of action. They had the _Orion_, but the ZPM was almost drained, and he had doubts about the number of drones left onboard as well.

The Flood could well be that threat. Currently, the plan was to destroy the Halo rings, both to destroy the Flood and to prevent them from ever being fired. They would need the cooperation of the Sangheili, and that wasn't going to come easy. Why had they filled the damn things with flood! Couldn't the Ancients, in all their glory, destroyed them first?

It didn't feel right. The war wasn't over, it couldn't be. It was too easy. The Covenant had something up their sleeve, and O'Neill thought he knew what it was.

Atlantis. It was almost comical what Danny said.

"_I believe the Covenant call it the Ark, their description seems to more or less match ours, but what it was actually called is a lot more familiar to us. The Ancients called it Atlantis."_

"_Not Lost City of Atlantis Atlantis,"_

"_Actually yes, it is the Lost City of Atlantis. You see..."_

They knew that the Goa'uld, the Ancients and the Asgard had contributed to the various mythology of Earth. According to the legend it had sunk, never to be seen again.

According to the information they had retrieved from the _Orion_, however, it hadn't sunk. It had taken off and escaped to another galaxy. It sounded farfetched, but given what they knew about the Ancients, it was probably true. The flood forced them to fire the Halos once; they needed to go somewhere. And a city-ship was an oh-so-stylish way to do it. The location of Atlantis- the Pegasus Galaxy- and a gate address was pretty much all the information in the databanks. The _Orion_ must be very old- or they scrubbed the database clean to keep the flood from following them. But why leave the location? The fact remained that they simply did not know much about Atlantis.

What they did know was the scary part. Unless Daniel's translations were incorrect, which Jack highly doubted, Atlantis had the power to save the galaxy or destroy it. There were reports that the Covenant had plans to take Atlantis, and they all knew what they would do after that.

There were missions deep behind enemy lines, ones right at home, and everywhere in between. But this would be the first one to another _galaxy_. Worse still, based on both Carter and McKay's power calculations, they would need the ZPM to dial Atlantis. They couldn't risk making the journey with one of their damaged ships- it would probably take too long anyway. They didn't know a lot about what was on the other side. Some basic information about the city itself- but not a hell of a lot more.

Risky as it was, O'Neill didn't have a choice. He picked up the phone. "Dr. Weir, the Atlantis Expedition is a go."

* * *

I was originally shooting for ten chapters, but it will probably end up around twelve. I plan to add a timeline to the first chapter, as there have been several complaints about lack of background information. After Halogate, I'm not really sure where I will go. I was originally going to do a prequel and a sequel to Halogate, but looking back, Halogate seems like a stupid idea, or at least not well executed. I just want to finish it now. Halogate will have a semi-conclusive ending- open enough for a sequel but still (I hope) a satisfying conclusion. I'm not sure where I'm going to go after Halogate. I thought I had some good ideas, but now they don't seem so great.

If you want to know, here they are. All titles are tentative. BEWARE OF SPOILERS! Please comment on these, and tell me which you like and which you hate.

Halogate: Trial By Fire- A prequel to Halogate. Possibly presented in the form of mission reports or flashbacks. Tells the story of how the SGC came to be, and some highlights. Centers around O'Neill and how he turned the SGC around.

Halogate: Extinction- A sequel to Halogate. Either the last System Lord or some Covenant zealots fire the Halos, taking all life in our galaxy with them. Now, in a hostile new galaxy, the human and Covenant survivors must work together to survive against the Wraith. Originally, this was two separate story arcs, one about the last System Lord striking while the Covenant and UNSC are weak, and the other about after the rings are fired. It is unlikely that I would complete one, let alone two epic stories.

Switched- Mass Effect/Stargate Atlantis. Set S4 Atlantis, after Therum ME. Carter receives the gene therapy, McKay has a new plan to extract power from another universe, and Shepard idly plays with what she thinks is a Prothean artifact. Suddenly, Carter is in someone else's body, in a strange new galaxy, and she must learn to act like the renegade Shepard if the galaxy is to survive. I'm not exactly sure what to do with Shepard's story, here. I do realize I will have to fudge canon a little on the SG side, and it will be a significant AU on the Mass Effect side. Is Carter the right character? To make it not completely awkward, that means it has to be FemShep, something which I am largely indifferent to.

The Wraith Are Coming- I don't have a better title for it, sorry! Borderline crack fic, ME/SGA sort of. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack. For years, an enigmatic race known only as the Collectors have been taking a few people here and there. Now, they're kidnapping human colonies, and an invasion is inevitable. And the only one that can stop them has been dead for two years. This could be interesting to write, as I would probably be playing ME2 as I wrote it. I don't own Mass Effect 2 yet, although I plan to purchase it soon.

After Atlantis- I've seen others do this sort of thing. Basically, a continuation of Stargate Atlantis. The Stargate program is disclosed, and now the SGC must face new and old enemies both on and offworld. I don't know if I have the skills or dedication to write something of this magnitude.

Stargate Domination- Even more ambitious than After Atlantis. A horrible title, I know. The Stargate is disclosed after Anubis' attack. Although there is turmoil at first, it ultimately works out for the better, as the entire world now pools their resources. You can expect more ships, advanced weapons and armour (We can build intergalactic starships, but we still send our people out there with Kevlar vests and M16s- that should be a trope). It won't quite be one of those Earth-dominates-everyone fics, but they will be significantly more powerful. If I do this, it would probably be in the form of short-ish episode synopsis, not a true story.


	10. The Expedition

It's chapter ten. Not much to say about it, really.

* * *

_Alpha Site - October 19, 2552_

Even during wartime, there were politics involved. Since the politicians liked her, she got command of the Atlantis Expedition. Even she knew that it should be a military operation. But no, the politicians didn't want the UNSC in charge. The fact that they didn't take the SGC or the threat of total annihilation seriously probably had something to do with it.

But she wasn't going to complain. She did get command of the Atlantis Expedition. If it was even half of what Dr. Jackson thought it would be... She paused for a moment. There was a very real possibility that they would have to destroy Atlantis. Most of the UNSC top brass would just blow it up. But General O'Neill obviously understood how valuable the city could be. He was a lot smarter than he looked. So the mission was to gather as much technology from Atlantis as possible. If it was defensible, they would try their best to defend it, and set up a semi-permanent base if it wasn't overrun. They had no idea what defensive capabilities Atlantis would have. It was an Ancient installation, so it would have to be pretty secure.

The _Orion_, _Daedalus_, and a significant portion of the UNSC fleet would head for Atlantis, but since the Pegasus Galaxy was three million light-years away and the Covenant may well be on their way, they probably wouldn't make it in time. They had managed to acquire two more partially charged ZPMs. Amazing what one could find when they looked. They had been squirreled away with all the other Ancient artifacts. All they had known about them was that they emitted some form of energy. They knew a lot more now, thanks to the _Orion_'s databases. She wondered what kind of allies they might meet-

Dr. Weir was interrupted from her musings by the phone ringing. She picked it up. "Dr. Weir,"

O'Neill's voice crackled over the phone, "Dr. Weir, you have a go."

"Thank you," She put the phone down. Though the general thought otherwise, it was little more than a formality.

* * *

"You look awfully happy, Jackson." Mitchell said.

"Yeah, well, I was worried that we wouldn't be going on the Atlantis Expedition,"

"Now why would you think something like that?"

"I don't know, just like a bad feeling, probably nothing."

"Of course it's nothing. Whether we admit it or not, we're the best. And if Atlantis really can destroy the galaxy we need the best."

* * *

_Gateroom of the Orion, orbiting the Alpha Site_

"This is a mission of great importance. Failure is not an option. If we fail, all life in our galaxy may be extinguished. This may be a one-way trip. We might all die millions of light-years away, we may have to destroy Atlantis. But if we can defend Atlantis from the Covenant, think of what we might gain. Technology beyond anything we have ever seen. New allies in another galaxy. We may even meet real live Ancients.

"You are all the best in your fields. You know what's at stake. Begin the dialing sequence."

On her cue, a lieutenant began dialing the _Orion_'s DHD. In sequence, the symbols danced around the ring and the chevrons lit up. When the eighth one reached the top chevron, the gate activated, the characteristic unstable vortex lighting up the entire gateroom.

Dr. Weir smiled. It worked! They had established a connection- to another galaxy! She dropped the helmet over her head and heard it lock and seal. It seemed a little extreme, but the full-body armour was one of the conditions O'Neill had imposed on her for going through first. On reflection, it wasn't totally unnecessary. There could be empty vacuum, or hostile aliens on the other side.

_Atlantis Gateroom_

The architecture was clearly Ancient. It was completely intact, the atmosphere was breathable too! Soon the rest of the personnel began moving through the gate, crowding the gateroom with pallets of supplies. Dr. McKay immediately headed to the control room, and Carter left with the ZPMs to find the ZPM room and install them.

"The legend of Atlantis may be more true than we thought. We're underwater!" McKay exclaimed.

"What? How is that possible?" asked Weir.

"There's a shield around the city that keeps the water out- oh no. It's failing. Right now only the tower is protected and the shield could fail at any moment."

"We brought ZPMs-"

"That's a temporary fix. Look, it takes a lot of energy to hold back that much water. We have to bring this city to the surface."

"Do it."

McKay punched a few buttons on the console and the city began rising and broke the surface a few minutes later.

Atlantis' database alone was amazing. It contained knowledge far beyond the one on the _Orion_, but it would take time to translate and interpret. There was a network of Stargates like the one on the _Orion_ in this galaxy and they had found small ships designed to fly through the gate. Despite McKay's protests, they named them Puddle Jumpers.

The news wasn't all good, though. The city had drones, the powerful weapons that ripped up the Covenant fleets, but few were left. And sensors had detected the Covenant just days, maybe weeks, away.

* * *

Yes, I realize how awful the writing was, especially toward the end of the chapter. I'm not a good writer, and I was having a bit of writer's block as well as just wanting to get this done. Halogate seemed like a good idea when I started, but now it seems fucking stupid and incredibly ridiculous. I don't want to disappoint by abandoning this, but don't expect the sequel. You want one, feel free to write one.

With my next story, I think I'll go all the way. If I'm going to write something ridiculous and stupid, I'm going to take it all the way. Expect either Stargate Domination, The Bridge, or Wraith Collection sometime in the fall.


	11. Battle of Atlantis

This is the penultimate chapter of Halogate. I'm going to try to make the ending as satisfying as possible, because I don't think I'll get around to writing Halogate Extinction. If you want a continuation, you'll have to write it yourself.

* * *

_Atlantis – October 27, 2552_

Weir looked out over the balcony and wondered if they would be ready. Was she doing her job well enough?

For that matter, the city was really under the control of Colonel Sumner. All she did was manage the mundane stuff, like making sure there was food and that everyone had somewhere to sleep. It was just as important, but it didn't seem as glamorous.

The last week-and-a-bit had been fairly successful. They had managed to acquire a ZPM from a brotherhood that had stashed one away for the Ancients to collect when they returned. To say that Weir doubted they would return was a massive understatement, but the brotherhood had believed they were Ancients and given them the ZPM. It was almost fully charged. Dr. McKay said that the shield over the city would probably be able to take a lot of plasma weapons fire, but they couldn't stay under it forever.

Fortunately, they managed to acquire some more drones. There was a similar city to Atlantis half-buried on another planet. A small nobility used their ability to use the drones to protect the people. They were corrupt, but the Spartans intimidated them into giving up their drones and ZPM, which had a lot less charge. Weir didn't approve of their methods, but this was war, and if the fate of one, possibly two galaxies was at stake, so be it.

Defensive positions were set up all around the city. When the attack came, all non-military personnel would fall back to the now-fortified tower. Everyone was armed and armored, even herself. The Covenant would probably want to take the city rather than destroy it.

Of course, the city had a self-destruct. They figured out how to use it, and if they were losing, they would destroy Atlantis. The Pegasus Alpha Site was as ready as possible, which was not very. Most likely they would not be able to return to Earth, not with the ZPMs powering the shield and weapons. And if they survived the Covenant, would they survive the Wraith? They hadn't had more than passing encounters, but from what she heard, they were a powerful alien race that ate people.

But would they be ready enough? The Covenant couldn't get to Atlantis via Earth and had to do it through conventional hyperdrive. Still, they were practically on top of them, and reinforcements wouldn't arrive for another week or longer.

"Ma'am, Covenant ships are dropping out of hyperspace. At least a dozen battlecruisers, two carriers of unknown type, and several smaller ships."

She nodded and headed back inside. Newly installed blast doors closed over the literally Ancient ones.

"Raise the shield," Colonel Sumner ordered. A technician pressed a few buttons and the shield quickly formed a dome over the city.

"Sir, we are receiving a transmission. Audio and visual."

"Prepare the drones for-" Sumner was interrupted by Dr. Weir.

"Put it on," she said. An image of a few Elites on what seemed like the bridge of one of the ships appeared on the screen. One turned to face them.

"I am Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum. I know you assume we are the enemy, we are not."

Colonel Sumner was about to say something when Weir glared at him and cut him off. "Alright, Shipmaster, we're willing to hear you out."

"I would ask to meet you in person, but you would need to drop your shields, and I know you are not fools.

"We, the Sangheili, were betrayed. As you may know, we have always been the protectors of the Prophets. Only weeks ago, an unprecedented event happened. The Jiralhanae replaced us in our role. That was not the worst of it.

"I learned the truth of the Halo rings from the Arbiter. If the Prophet of Truth succeeds in activating the rings, all life in our home galaxy will be destroyed.

"You have weakened our kind, but you have weakened the Covenant as whole more. We did not split peacefully, but there is not enough left to stop us. This is half our fleet. The rest is defending Sanghelios. However, if Truth fails, there will be little left of the old Covenant. We will assist in defending the Ark, as it is our only choice."

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Sumner asked.

"Because if it was, we would already be firing upon you, regardless of the consequences. The Covenant loyalist fleet will be here in a matter of hours. You can fire on us and waste your precious drone weapons, or you can allow us to join you. I will give you time to discuss the matter." He ended the transmission.

"We can never trust the Covenant, no matter who or what they claim to be!" Colonel Sumner nearly yelled, "They destroyed our colonies, they attacked Earth!"

"Calm down, Colonel," Dr. Weir said, "Let's assume for a moment that they are telling the truth. That they really are different. Truth is sending his entire fleet, and we need all the help we can get. I doubt we'll be able to convince them to leave orbit, and firing on them would be insane."

"Have you fought the Covenant, Doctor? Have you looked one in the eye? Killed one?" Sumner challenged, "Have you even met an Elite before?"

"Colonel, I am in charge of non-military matters on this base. Despite what you may think, alliances with other races and factions is considered a non-military matter," she glared at Sumner, "This matter is closed. We will accept their assistance with gratitude."

* * *

_Shadow of Intent_

"Receiving a transmission, Shipmaster."

The female human appeared on the screen. "Shipmaster, we accept your assistance-"

"Shipmaster, Loyalist forces dropping out of hyperspace!"

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Six assault carriers, twenty battlecruisers, and almost forty smaller ships, sir."

"Major Sheppard, get down to the chair room, but do not fire until I give the order," Sumner ordered. SG-1 didn't like it, but Sheppard was the best with the chair, and they needed him.

"Sir, Sangheili vessels are engaging the Covenant forces."

* * *

_Shadow of Intent_

The Sangheili fleet didn't stand a chance, but they were determined to stand their ground. The Shadow of Intent fired the first shot. Her energy projector tore through a Loyalist CCS-class battlecruiser, then all hell broke loose. Both sides fired massive barrages of plasma torpedoes and the largest ships fired their energy projectors. Point-defense weapons were of some use, but not much.

"Shipmaster, we are taking heavy losses! Half our fleet is gone, including the _Righteous Justice_, and we've lost our energy projector."

"We will hold our ground," Rtas 'Vadum said as an energy beam lanced through the hull, shaking the whole ship violently, "We have no choice. Fire plasma torpedoes, our shields are almost down anyway."

The console in front of him bleeped. It was a short text message from Atlantis. "Draw them closer." The Shipmaster considered it for a moment. "Do it, pull back towards the planet," he ordered as plasma torpedoes slammed into the cruiser next to them, destroying it in a dozen hits.

* * *

_Atlantis_

"Sir, the Sangheili fleet has taken massive losses. They have one assault carrier, three battlecruisers, and nine- make that eight- smaller vessels. Covenant Loyalist fleet has taken some losses- down one carrier, seven battlecruisers, and a dozen destroyers and frigates."

"This better work, doctor," Sumner growled, "They're getting their asses kicked, and we're next."

The lieutenant turned back to his console. "Wait- Covenant forces are within the outer envelope of drone range and are still engaging the Sangheili exclusively."

Sumner just nodded, "We have to wait a bit longer. Right now it'll just be a waste of drones and power."

* * *

_Shadow of Intent_

"We have lost shields and main power! Half of our torpedo launchers are non-functional and we have hull breaches on every deck! Shipmaster, the _Shadow of Intent_ cannot take much more of this!"

Rtas watched as one of his destroyers was smashed to pieces. "You are right. Whatever the humans do, they must do it soon."

* * *

_Atlantis_

"There are six Sangheili ships left and the bulk of the fleet is still out there. Colonel, we have to act now!" Dr. Weir said.

"They're still not close enough! They'll just shoot them down, or dodge them," he countered.

Sheppard, who was listening to the entire conversation, finally had enough. "Sir, do you have any fucking idea what you're talking about? These are drones, not Archer missiles. You can't shoot them down. Range doesn't slow them down- they're just as lethal. And we've already let most of the fleet die. So whether you're done arguing or not, I'm just going to start firing."

Outside, streams of the yellow projectiles streamed out of launchers around the city. "Major you will stand down immediately!" Sumner yelled. He ran in the direction of the drone room, but found the doors were closed and wouldn't respond to him at all.

* * *

_Shadow of Intent_

"Shipmaster-"

"There is no need, I see it." Streams of the bright yellow drones swarmed around the Sangheili ships, ripping through the Loyalist forces. There seemed to be thousands of them, dancing in and out of the ships, ripping them to pieces. They tried to fire on Atlantis but only got a handful of shots off before being ripped to shreds. It was, in a way, beautiful. Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum had heard of it before, and always thought he'd be on the receiving end. Still, it was incredible, beyond what any of the reports had said.

"It is over, Shipmaster."

"Yes, it is over. But it has also only begun."

* * *

_Atlantis_

Around Atlantis, almost everyone cheered. It was kind of anti-climactic, but hey, they had won. It may even be the end of the Covenant.

"Sir, all targets destroyed. We've almost drained our ZPMs, but the shield is holding. We have some drones left, but not enough to defend against a major assault."

"Hopefully they won't be coming back," Dr. Weir turned to Sumner, "Colonel, I'm relieving you of your duties as military commander of Atlantis. Until further notice you are confined to your quarters."

"You can't do that! You don't have the authority!" the Colonel yelled.

"Actually, I do. It's in the expedition orders. Marines, escort him out."

* * *

Well, probably not the best chapter. I'm especially not happy with the space battle. But it's better than nothing, right? I think it's still a pretty good ending, though. The last chapter will clean up some loose ends and give it a more final conclusion. I think I'll work on Stargate Domination first, though.


	12. New Beginning

This is more an epilogue than an ending. Author's notes are at the end.

* * *

_Atlantis – January 1, 2553_

Once again Weir looked out at the majestic oceans of Lantea. Standing out on the balcony was one of her favourite pastimes. All her troubles disappeared and she was free to think.

It was closer to two months than three since the final battle with Truth. Yet a lot had changed since then. Both the Tau'ri and the New Covenant were still rebuilding and had a long way to go.

The Tau'ri. Humans of Earth. It was incredible, really. The Ancients looked human but were much more advanced. Apparently they came from another galaxy, first coming to the Milky Way, then being driven out by the Flood, then returning, fleeing the Wraith. In a way, the humans were Forerunners. She wondered what the Old Covenant would have said about that.

Ancients, Asgard, Nox, Furlings. They had no idea what the Nox or the Furlings were like. The Asgard had been responsible for a lot of the SGC's technology. They had found a crashed Asgard vessel under the deserts of what was once the southern United States after following all manner of clues. The Asgard aboard had died long before it crashed in the mid-twentieth century, the ship having flown on autopilot for hundreds of years. She still hadn't heard the complete recording, but she knew that they were the last Asgard, having been fighting the Goa'uld, the Covenant and genetic degradation for thousands of years. They said the humans were the "fifth race" and that they hoped their legacy would allow the humans a brighter future. It was too bad they had only discovered bits and pieces until a few years ago.

The Goa'uld were long gone. Supreme arrogance had killed them. She supposed that if you posed as a god long enough you might start to believe some of it. Did they pose as existing deities or create them? Probably a bit of both.

Her thoughts drifted back to the Flood. Those things were disgusting. Some theorized that they came from another galaxy, but she had a different theory. There was some evidence- not much, and it could easily be mistaken- that the Ancients had created them, accidentally or otherwise. Whatever happened, the Ancients were defeated. They fired the Halos, destroying all life in the galaxy. But if they destroyed all life, where did they come from. The Covenant believed they had taken them to Atlantis, but it just didn't add up. Maybe DNA, or even a few living examples, but Atlantis simply was not big enough or correctly arranged to sustain a viable population. Might there be something out there, even more powerful than the Halo rings, that _created_ life?

Though they were rebuilding, the Tau'ri- why did she keep using that term?- were badly hit. Parts of Earth were in ruins. The once-proud fleet was a joke. Billions upon billions of people were dead. The majority of the colonies were gone- Harvest, Reach- even the SGC colonies of Abydos and Chulak. The Goa'uld spread humanity around, enslaved them, then were defeated at the hands of the Covenant, who either massacred or continued to enslave the humans. Some of them were still primitive worlds barely able to handle their freedom. Some were by varying degrees more advanced, like Tollana and Langara. And there were some that destroyed themselves- Tegalus was now a nuclear wasteland.

The New Covenant were in a much worse position. The Sangheili were on top- the San 'Shyuum brutally executed and the rest forced to fall into line. Some went along willingly, like the Unggoy and the Lekgolo. The Jiralhanae resisted the most. Among the New Covenant there was a lot of dissent and political infighting. Rtas 'Vadum, now Grand Hierarch of the New Covenant, often remarked that he was little better than the Prophets he had replaced. But Weir was sure that the New Covenant would stabilize. They had to, as there wasn't much left of them either.

Weir looked up at the sky. The Wraith. They had defeated the Ancients by sheer numbers and they were probably on their way to Atlantis right now. They had finally won the war and now they might lose a much different one. The _Daedalus_ shuttled back and forth between Atlantis and Earth. The Odyssey was complete and now under the command of a Captain Keyes, but they were assigned to the Milky Way. They had one Marathon-class cruiser, two Halcyons and a few destroyers and frigates. The New Covenant maintained a presence of a battlecruiser and two destroyers. Thankfully, the Wraith seemed to be loosely organized into individual tribes or "hives", so they probably wouldn't send in a whole fleet at once. But the Ancients had underestimated their enemies and paid the price, and so had the Goa'uld and in a way the Covenant.

Colonel Sheppard walked outside to join her. He had been dumped into the SGC for disobeying orders, but was actually a good leader and a capable officer. He had an attitude, sure, but wasn't an asshole like Sumner was. "Beautiful night, isn't it?" He paused. "What are you thinking about now?"

"The Wraith. They defeated the _Ancients_, John. I don't know what we can hope to do against them."

"We'll be ready," he reassured her, "We took on the Covenant and won- I'd say the odds are better this time. We've got some ships in orbit- even New Covenant ones, and half a ZPM."

"I hope you're right," She looked up at the moon one more time and headed back inside.

* * *

Well, it's been a while, and Halogate is finally finished. It could have been way better- I planned it out meticulously, but missed some important points. The idea seems kind of stupid now, but on second thought, it's more the execution. Making SG-1 Spartans was a mistake, and Carter, Jackson, Mitchell and Sheppard is a weird combination. I should have spent more time on the introduction, as well. I added a timeline, but it's still kind of confusing.

So, where to from here? You could read Stargate Domination, which is basically Stargate done the way I thought it should be done- spiffy armor, cool guns, and some new spaceships. I'll probably write some oneshots as well. I had grand plans for Halogate, but now, I'm not sure. There was going to be a prequel, which I may still do. It would be in the form of either flashbacks or mission reports. Originally Halogate was going to be an epic trilogy, first the prequel, then Halogate, then The Return (Retribution at the time) then finally Extinction (not the Atlantis movie). The Return would feature the Goa'uld as the main enemy, and Extinction would take place in the Pegasus galaxy after the rings are fired (if I do it now it would be Dakara instead) and all life is destroyed. Think of it as Halogate Atlantis. I'm not sure if I want to do just Extinction, both, or none. I think maybe I'll come back to Halogate in a while.

I made some videos! I was bored, and it was originally just a sort of promotion but I actually like making the videos a lot, maybe even more than writing the fics.

Halogate - www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v=nTEVzLzVHR4

Halogate: The Return - www (dot) youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v=jRermWvY8nw

I might as well take the time to respond to some reviews and answer some questions.

* * *

_Dusel – Chapter 3_

Yes, it's convenient, the Stargate way. I know, it's kind of in stark contrast to Halo's typically bleak outlook. It would probably seem less glaring if I had started the story earlier, though. If you don't like that, don't worry. There's plenty of other fanfic out there, maybe this one's just not your thing.

_Magus Zanin – Chapter 4_

Yes, I guess beaming technology could do that- it did work on the Wraith, after all. But since the Ancients are the Forerunners and the Orion quite clearly has Stargate-style shields, it would probably be safe to assume the Covenant have that type of shield in this fic. In any case, you would have to get pretty close to use the beaming technology- though that may not be much of a problem for the Daedalus against the lumbering Halo ships.

I think I've said before that everyone has hyperdrives in this fic. It could be a problem, making travel a lot faster, or an asset as well. It certainly would change things. However, it was stated in Season 1 (maybe 2) of SG-1 that there are slow hyperdrives out there.

_Snowdove30 – Chapter 4_

The Asgard are extinct, falling victim to their genetic problems in addition to being attacked by both the Covenant and Goa'uld. The Jaffa and Tok'ra pretty much died with the Goa'uld. The SGC has been around for somewhere around ten years. Aware of the Ancient gene- not yet, but they will soon. On a side note, one could assume that Master Chief also has the gene, since Forerunner technology seems to like him so much and that carries over into this fic.

_ParanoidSchizo – Chapter 4_

Yup, a lot has been retconned and changed to be consistent. Weir's musings in the epilogue (this chapter) may be of some use- or not.

_Eipok – Chapter 1_

Clearly you missed some. A lot, actually. It's a blended universe AU, so they wouldn't be dead, the SGC wouldn't have been started until around 2540, hyperdrives would be invented instead of slipspace drives, etc. I do realize I've glossed over a lot of points, as well. I've added a timeline that should hopefully clear things up but probably just confuses it further.

An interesting theory which I just thought of would be that Ba'al fucked up the timeline in Continuum, leading to this reality. He somehow what would become the Covenant, possibly by leaving technology behind, and instead of dying out like they should have, they become a dominant power. The Stargate is left in the ship and not discovered until hundreds of years later. It doesn't explain the Halos, the Flood, or the lack of Replicators, though. I know, hugely off topic and has nothing to do with anything, but I do that sometimes.

_stark40763 – Chapter 7_

Actually, the Orion is not a city-ship but an Aurora. I guess I didn't make that very clear. Referring to High Charity as a city-ship is kind of confusing as well.

_Mortality – Chapter 1_

The Asgard got hit hard by their genetic degeneration and got caught in the middle of the Covenant-Goa'uld war. The Nox are just as useless in this reality as they are in SG-1. The Ori presumably exist but are blissfully unaware of the Milky Way and its inhabitants- though Covenant vs Ori would be an interesting premise for a fic. The Replicators never happened- though the Flood are similar in a lot of ways, and also very different. The Asurans would have played a minor part in Extinction, the Wraith would have been the main antagonists.

* * *

I guess that's the end, at least for now. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, or even just read this story. If you haven't reviewed, please do so and let me know what you think. This is probably the end of the road for Halogate, but I have other fics in the works, and you should check them out.


End file.
